West Virginia Democrat. [volume] (Charles Town, W. Va.) 1885-1890, 1887-08-12
SCENES IN NORWAY.
a PEEP AT THE MOST NORTHERN
FORT IN THE WORLD.

A Visit to the Public Schools of vardo.
Pleasant and Entertaining Exercises.
MaIodorous Factories for Rendering
Whale Blubber into Oil.
Vardo is the most easterly town In Nor
way, located on an island of the same
name in the Arctic ocean, in latitude 20
degrees 20 minutes SO seconds north. 1t
is separated from the mainland by chan
mel two miles wide, and contains a popu-
lation of about 1000. 1t claims the most
northern fort in all the world, which il
garrisoned by sixteen men and has an
armament of about an equal number OF
old fashioned cannon, making man for
each gun. The keystone of an arch over
the entrance to the rampart bears the date
'1T37"
There being two public schools In the
place, and naturally having a curiosity
to visit seat of learning whose founda-
tions were lashed by the Arctic wave,
entered the larger Of the two by a rear
door, for there was no entrance from the
street nor at either end. | was kindly
and politely saluted by the teacher, and
ON entering the main room the pupils
arose in body and bowed 10 me- A
seat was given me and book was placed
in my hand that might follow the boys
and girls through their reading lesson,
which was characterized in some meas
ure by that doleful enunciation so often
heard in rural schools. The girls wore
the inevitable handkerchief about their
heals. A bit of 1.-the cane in a corner
represented the pedagogic mace. The
rooms on this day, the Sth Of July,
were heated by coal stoves. The school
contained four departments, under
male principal, and three assistant female
teachers, all intelligent and wide awake.
From the principals room passed to
an adjoining one in charge Of a bright
and neatly attired young lady, who re-
quired her pupils to sing for me, and
strove with graceful tact to make the exer-
cises pleasant and ineligible to one
totally ignorant of the language. 1t was
almost pitiful to see some of the girls
caressing small bunches of puny dandc-
lion blossoms that seemed rs precious to
them as victoria reea would be to
southern maid. Others were nursing
few sprays Of millefolium in bottles Of
water, and one could only wonder that so
stunted and sparse n flora could beget any
love for flowers at all and yet geraniums
and roses in the windows of the better
houses are not uncommon. Excepting
small and unimportant one at Hammer
fest, this Is the most northern school in
the world, and after pleasant hour there
in departed.
The remainder of the day concluded
to spend in visiting the whale "fabriks;"
that is, the establishments for rendering
whale blubber into oil and transforming
the krang (aensed carcasses) into artificial
guano have had occasion already to
,nssatian- -ssRaral of the. most northern
things In the world; here discovered the
most powerful stencil In all Europe, and
probably in the world, and yet felt will
ing to brave It to witness dissection OF
lcviathans. There are around Vardo four
or five establishments, each having several
steam whalers constantly securing the
seas off the coast in pursuit of whales.
Floating in the channel before the diff
ferent factories were forty fenscd car
casscs, some swollen to enormous proper
tions. Two large whales, one sevcnty-fiye
feet I'm length, were drawn out on the
shore, one with the blubber newly re-
moved, the other fresh from the
water. Several men mounted the latter
by ladder and clambered about on
its smooth, slippery skin by means of
sharp spikes attached to the soles Of their
boots; with blubber knives two feet IN
length in long wooden handles. they made
transverse incsions MS deep rs the blubber
about twelve inches In this case-and
five or six feet long, and then running
the cut longitudinally for thirty feet, q
blanket of fat was ready for removal n
chain was attached to the farther end, and
by the power Of a windlass I'm the factory
this prodigious slab Of blubber, weigbing
several tons, was slowly torn from the
carcass. This process was continued till
the fensing was completed. In the fact
DRY the blubber Is cut into small pieces
for the "trying out'' pots. The flesh OF
the fensed carcass Is then cut down into
large pieces that are dragged and pitched
with flesh hooks to small cars; IL Is then
taken to drying furnaces, where it is
rendered friable. When the flesh and
viscera have been removed, the work Of
chopping down the finty forest OF bones
Is commenced; the bones are also sub
jected to the drying furnace, and when
parched are ground together with the
flesh into powder, which is barreled and
shipped to all parts OF Europe as a fer
tilizer-James Ricalton in Outing.